On a bright, April afternoon, Indigenous Curriculum Grant holders gathered for a pipe ceremony where they honoured the parallel process and were validated for their work in advancing Indigenous engagement and perspectives in the curriculum.
2025 Indigenous Curriculum Grant recipients. Photo Credit: Travis Dickie
Kneeling in a circle, each grant holder shared their intention for new projects or explored findings from those recently completed.
Elders speak to parallel process of transformation
Guided by Elders Reg and Rose Crowshoe, the ceremony is an opportunity for members to ask for support and share how their work will, or has, contributed to the Indigenization of credit courses and programs at the University of Calgary.
The program, launched in 2022, provides up to $10,000 for initiatives that include Traditional Knowledge and Knowledge Keepers, and support for innovative land-based learning. This event marks an important point in the journey of each grant holder.
"The significance for the pipe ceremony is to acknowledge the parallel process of building strategic transformation, through enrolment to relatives," explains Elder Reg.
Rooted in the understanding that life is a journey, the ceremony recognizes that people within and connected to the university are walking on parallel paths that reflect oral and written systems. The ceremony marks an important step in the application of the oral system.
"The pipe serves as a tool in our oral governance that parallels the western written system application process. It represents the responsibility to project holders to achieve their goals," adds Elder Reg.
Guided by ii' taa'poh'to'p, the Indigenous Curriculum Grants are offered in partnership between the Office of Indigenous Engagement, Vice-Provost (Teaching and Learning) and the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning, and is supported by the OIE grant from the Calgary Foundation.
ii' taa'poh'to'p cultural model
"Opportunities for students to engage with Indigenous ways of knowing, doing, and being are the result of educators whose vision is supported and championed by their communities" says Derritt Mason, Acting Senior Director at the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning. "Over the previous three cohorts, it's been a privilege to see project ideas become transformational student experiences".
Kneeling together in the circle, the afternoon was an opportunity for grant recipients at all stages of their project journey to share the significance of their work, explore its outcomes, and reflect on the impact that the Indigenous Curriculum Grant could, and has had on creating a more Indigenous curriculum at the University of Calgary.
Learn more about Indigenous Curriculum Grants:
New Indigenous Curriculum Grant recipients
- Lindsay Amundsen-Meyer | Faculty of Arts | ARKY 306 (Archaeological Field Skills) Curriculum Development
- Lorraine Lekemann | Faculty of Social Work | Doing Social Work Practicum in a Good Way: Parallel Paths
- Terry Poucette | Faculty of Social Work | Centering Indigenous Knowledge
- Daniel Voth | Faculty of Arts | Places and Spaces - Indigenous Student Learning and Research
- Fareen Zaver | Cumming School of Medicine | Transforming Reconciliation and Academic Inclusivity through Leadership (TRAIL)
Check-in for ongoing projects
- Laura Mazzino | Faculty of Science | Learning and Teaching Ways of Knowing in connection with Physics and Astronomy
- Adela Tesaarek Kincaid | Faculty of Arts | Stoney Nakoda Land-based Learning: Transforming Ways of Knowing
Presentation of learnings from completed projects
- Elisa Lacerda - Vandenborn | Werklund School of Education | Indigenous Wellness in Schools
- Mathieu Pruvot | Faculty of Veterinary Medicine | Supporting the Decolonization of the Veterinary Medicine Curriculum
- David Scott | Werklund School of Education | Renewing Foundational Treaties and Agreements Education
- Michelle Scott | Faculty of Nursing | Integrating the Four Elements into the BSc Nursing Curriculum
